Cryptocurrency mining has been included on China’s latest list of obsolete industries from which new entrants are barred.
On 8 October the National Development and Reform Commission issued the 2021 draft edition of its “Market Entry Negative List” (市场准入负面清单清单) for the solicitation of opinions from the public.
The draft edition includes “virtual currency mining” on the list “obsolete industries,” as part of amendments to the “Industrial Structure Adjustment Guidance Catalogue” (产业结构调整指导目录).
China’s central government has recently stepped up its crackdown on cryptocurrency trading and usage within the country’s borders.
24 September the NDRC issued the “Notice on the Rectification of Cryptocurrency ‘Mining’ Activities” (关于整治虚拟货币“挖矿”活动的通知), which called for “strengthening regulation of upstream and downstream cryptocurrency mining activities, strictly banning new cryptocurrency mining projects, and accelerating the orderly withdrawal of existing projects.”
NDRC said that the measures were part of efforts to expedite “industry structural optimisation,” as well as fulfil China’s emissions mitigation targets of achieving peak carbon by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.
Earlier in 2021 a slew of provincial governments around China launched campaigns to shut down cryptocurrency mining activities within their jurisdictions, including Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Sichuan.
